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Several local colleges, including MIT, UMass Amherst, and Boston College have adopted a new smartphone app that enables students to track the number of calories in the school’s dining hall food.

The free app, called “Campus Calories,” was developed by BC student Jimmy Campbell earlier this year. With the help of one of his classmates, Campbell said he transferred the online nutritional information of BC’s dining hall food to an app. Two weeks ago, Campus Calories launched the app for UMass Amherst, and last week they released a version for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“We want to make this the best, most accurate tool for students,” Campbell, a senior, said today in a phone interview.

Approximately 4,000 people have downloaded the Campus Calories app to date, he said. By May, Campus Calories will have expanded to Tufts University, Harvard College, and the University of Connecticut.

Campbell said one student told him that he was shocked to learn that the sandwich he had been eating nearly every day was about 1,000 calories.

“It changed the way I eat, and I wasn’t even looking to do that,” Campbell said. “Once you know the information, it really helps you out.”

Katherine Landergan can be reached at klandergan@globe.com. For campus news updates, follow her on Twitter @klandergan.